Eagles narrowly avoid Bear trap as Chicago stacks another L

The Chicago Bears have three wins, no playoff hopes, and play the best team in their conference. This would be a fun time to rise to the occasion! The Bears teased us with the possibility of doing just that in the first half, even taking a whopping 6 to 3 lead at one point. But injuries piled up, and the difference in talent between teams eventually became all too apparent.

Bears with some bye week rust to knock off

Funny story. I write the answers to the 5 questions our opposing team writers ask, and this week I said one promising thing about Matt Eberflus as he has the team more disciplined. The Bears started the game with a penalty on the initial kick off, then two of their first 4 offensive plays. Maybe I held on to that narrative too long after it looked promising in the pre-season.

Get well soon, Equanimeous St. Brown

The Bear left the field early with a concussion in the first drive. The good news for the Bears is when all of your remaining receivers are literally replacement level, you don’t notice a drop-off when they’re replaced.

Get well soon, Tevin Jenkins

It’s always scary to see a Bear get carted off the field. For the Bears chances to play competitive, it’s extra worrisome to see Tevin Jenkins, probably the second most exciting Bear on this offense this season,

Welcome back, Kyler Gordon

This athletic young Bear has been up and down transitioning to two difficult positions in the NFL. He looked comfortable enough reading the MVP frontrunner and swooping into position to paw in an interception.

Update: Gordon involved himself in two other Bears turnovers, covering Quez Watkins tightly and slowing his route on DHC’s interception, and picking up the fumble caused by Mike Pennel.

Speaking of young defensive backs

UDFA CB Jaylon Jones has responded well to being catapulted up the depth chart due to injuries, and he performed better than expected against Devonta Smith in this game. The Bear is an impressive athlete (4.4 40 and 9.2 RAS), and I’m starting to feel good about the idea of him as long term cornerback depth, and I won’t be shocked (or mad) if he develops to be more. Perhaps the Bears will draft Texas A&M cornerback also named Jaylon Jones and the three Jaylons can get their jail on next season, locking up receivers with impunity,

Future Bear Javon Hargraves with a sack

Eagles DT Javon Hargraves is having a tremendous season and is an impending free agent for a time who will have to make some hard cap choices. I hope Javon was nice to his future quarterback after knocking him over for a third down stop.

Update: the future bear managed to sack Fields twice.

David Montgomery, RB1, WR2

The Bears offense can do most of its worth with just Fields and Montgomery. Those two seem more in sync in the passing game every week. Their scramble drill 22 yard connection was silky smooth. Monty should hold out for WR money.

Alex Leatherwood saves a touchdown drive

After Cole Kmet gave up a brutal blindside strip sack, Alex Leatherwood was the one to fall on the ball and keep an eventual touchdown possession alive.

Update: on the next drive, Leatherwood lost twice in a row to Hassan Reddick, leading to a batted pass and a sack that took the Bears out of field goal range.

The Philadelphia Eagles may be the best team in the NFC, but a Bear looked like the best player on the field

Specifically Justin Fields. Specifically when he evade a sack, then evaded at least 12 different tacklers and spun his way to the end zone. The only thing that could hold this man back was the impressive width of his own right foot. I hope that sideline was appropriately grateful for the opportunity to be blessed by greatness.

Cairo Santos continues to knock out his bad kicks in a losing season

A kicker’s eventual career kicking percentage will be what it is. Cairo is wisely saving up the good kicks for next season when it matters.

Bears' defense is playing with hustle and intensity and its leading to turnovers

Super fun to see! There might just be something to this HITS philosophy, and I have a feeling it’s going to sound even better with Javon Hargrave, Darron Payne, and Jalen Carter on the defensive line.

Get well soon, Jack Sanborn

The burgeoning young linebacker was injured in the 3rd quarter, and the Eagles immediately scored.

Get well soon, Matt Adams

It’s a rough day when the guy you bring in to replace an injured player gets injured on the next drive.

Please don’t put Velus Jones Jr. in the dog house

I know he shouldn’t have fumbled on that end around, but VJJ is the most exciting healthy receiver left on the team. I want to see him do something fun before the season ends.

Update: VJJ stayed in the game but then didn’t seem to take the right route on an almost-awesome flea flicker.

Jaylon Johnson rises to the challenge of AJ Brown

Brown eventually tallied plenty of yards, but Jaylon won at least as many contests as AJ did. On a good day, Johnson can play with the best of them, and I venture to say this has been a good day.

Update: Brown beat Johnson on a deep ball down the sideline after a wrote this. This was mostly an incredible pass and catch, but JJ definitely needed to complete the tackle.

The Gillotine drops his blade on the Eagles

Bald birdie heads will roll when Trenton Gill steps on the field.

Update: they got out of their hole with a 10 yard screen pass on 3rd and 10.

GET WELL SOON JUSTIN FIELDS

Fields looked to be nursing his hamstring after a heroic sack-escape first down run that was sadly taken back on a holding penalty. Let’s hope it’s just some light cramping. It’s easy for muscles that powerful to overuse their metabolic resources, even in a superhuman body like Justin’s.

Nsimba Webster has his first NFL reception

And his second in back-to-back plays. That’s a nice moment for this lil Bear.

Byron Pringle has his 2nd Bears TD

Pringle got wide open at the goal line on a broken play, and Fields found him after threatening to run. This offense continues to be exciting and surprising, even with their top three targets missing on an already thin receiving corps.

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The Bears played a competitive game against a much better team. You can call it a moral victory or a tank win, I’ll just call it a lot more fun to watch than I expected and encouraging for our Bears potential to take a leap next season.